Connecticut’s two U.S. Senators are urging their colleagues to pass a long-delayed bill to require people who buy guns to undergo universal background checks.
Senator Richard Blumenthal said the moment feels different from previous attempts to pass gun control laws.
“We have unprecedented momentum. Not only from two houses of congress and a president committed to this cause. But the gun lobby is imploding. The NRA has declared bankruptcy. And we have the votes,” Blumenthal said.
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy sounded optimistic at a press conference with Blumenthal and other gun control advocates.
“We can say for the first time in a long time that the anti-gun violence movement is stronger than the gun lobby,” Murphy said.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a universal background check bill earlier this month. It’s only the second attempt at such a bill since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
In the past, Senate Republicans have kept it from a floor vote. Democrats would need to get the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster.
